China Clears $137 Billion Dam Over Brahmaputra River

The Dam Will Give Beijing Control Over Water Flow to Large Indian Territories, Which Could Pose a Major Security Threat

- Press Trust of India

BEIJING: China has approved the construction of the world's largest dam, the biggest infrastructure project costing $137 billion, on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, close to the Indian border, raising concerns in the riparian states of India and Bangladesh.

The Chinese government has approved the construction of a hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra, according to an official statement quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency on Wednesday.

The dam is set to be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra River makes a huge U-turn to flow into Arunachal Pradesh and then to Bangladesh.